Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Nurse the Hate: The One Direction Wallet

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An 18-year-old Cleveland man is accused in the armed
carjacking of two suburban teenage girls he met through
Instagram.Jontrell Crockett and
two others used the popular social media platform to "lure"
two girls, a 16 year old from Independence and a 15 year old, to a corner store
at East 153rd Street and Kinsman Road Friday afternoon, according to court
documents.

The girls drove there after school to meet a teen they only knew
through Instagram as "Ray Ray," according to a Cleveland police
report. Police did not specify if they believe Crockett posed as Ray Ray,
or if it was one of the other two men.Ray Ray then told them to park behind a gray sedan farther down
East 153rd Street. As the girls pulled up, Ray Ray and two others walked up
to their car. One pulled out a revolver, the report says.

When the 16-year-old girl tried to start the car, the assailant pressed
the gun against the 15 year old's head and told them both to get out of the
car, the report said. The men then jumped in the car and drove north on East
153rd Street back toward Kinsman.The men also stole the girls' backpacks, which were filled
with school books, and the girls' iPhones. One girl lost her reading
glasses, and the other lost her One Direction wallet.
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Let that sink in for a moment...

While I think we can all agree that these young ladies exhibited poor
judgement driving to what could charitably called “a really shitty
neighborhood” to meet someone from social media known as “Ray Ray”, I’m sure
that they never would have envisioned losing their One Direction wallet.What kind of depraved scum steals a young
woman’s One Direction wallet?Her
Dad’s Buick?That’s collateral
damage in this risky game called love.Even having a pistol put to one’s head over their Trapper Keeper in
their trusty backpack is forgivable.Yet to steal someone’s One Direction wallet is to lose all semblance of
order.That is something you just
don’t do.

I remember just a few weeks ago when I was dining out with friends at Chez
Francois.We had enjoyed an
outstanding Duck a’la orange with a transcendent Romanee Conti 1990 when the
bill arrived.It was going to be a
hefty bill for the feast we had just enjoyed, and each of us were insisting on
paying the check.It can often be
embarrassing in that type of situation.Voices became raised and insistence became more urgent.However, when I pulled out my One
Direction wallet and announced “I’ve got this.”, the entire restaurant grew
silent.They knew I was
somebody.That One Direction
wallet announced to all, this is a man of means.

I don’t know what these ladies had in mind with their rendezvous with “Ray
Ray”.I admire their adventurous
spirit.To drive into an area that
features daily gang shootings to enjoy the company of “Ray Ray” and his cadre
of amusing companions is indeed perilous.Yet, who could have ever predicted that such a journey would have ended so
badly?What could have possibly
led them to think anything could have stopped them from launching an exciting new
relationship at East 153rd and Kinsman?We can never know
for certain the discussion that led to this disastrous loss of the One
Direction wallet.Perhaps it went
like this:

Girls:Ur hot
Ray Ray:Y don’t ya meet me
Girls:I dunno.Where?
Ray Ray:In the scariest
neighborhood you can imagine
Girls:OK we will come, but
will my One Direction wallet be OK?

Jontrell “Ray Ray” Crocket is but a man.A flawed young man with dreams that went crazy when he heard
about that One Direction wallet.Perhaps the jury will feel pity for Jontrell (aka “Ray Ray”) when they
see with their own eyes the splendor of that One Direction wallet.Perhaps they will look at the glowing
image of that supergroup emblazoned on the synthetic material and wonder how a
young man from poverty could have ever stopped himself from doing whatever he
needed to do to make that One Direction wallet his own.Not me though.I know how precious that One Direction
wallet is to its owner.Ray Ray
must learn to respect the One Direction wallet.Only then can he say he is rehabilitated and re-enter
society.

This is a violent city, but only now do I consider it a place without basic
human decency.Those crazy kids
chasing love might have thrown caution to the wind.Maybe they took a crazy risk.Maybe a little bit of the human spirit died that day.I don’t know.But I do know this.You can take a gal’s affection, but don’t take her One Direction wallet
you goddamn monster.

5 Comments:

One of those girls will not be ridiculed at school for driving to E. 153rd & Kinsman to meet Ray Ray who she "met" on Instagram, the girl will never live down the fact that she was carrying a One Direction wallet and will wear that Scarlet Letter the rest of her high school career.

About Me

As the singer of The Whiskey Daredevils, a group of barely talented dead beat no frills rockers, I travel a great many hours in a van. In this van, many opinions are formed that need to be shared in this space. There are many things that make sense in the van that don't make nearly as much sense in the cold harsh light of daylight. This is not my concern.